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October 1964
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List Price: $15.95
Our Price: $10.85
Your Save: $ 5.10 ( 32% )
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Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.357646
EAN: 9780449983676
ISBN: 0449983676
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 1995-04-11
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: 1995-04-11
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
THE BEST SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR
"October 1964 should be a hit with old-time baseball fans, who'll relish the opportunity to relive that year's to-die-for World Series, when the dynastic but aging New York Yankees squared off against the upstart St. Louis Cardinals. It should be a hit with younger students of the game, who'll eat up the vivid portrayals of legends like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris of the Yankees and Bob Gibson and Lou Brock of the Cardinals. Most of all, however, David Halberstam's new book should be a hit with anyone interested in understanding the important interplay between sports and society."
--The Boston Globe
"Compelling...1964 is a chronicle of the end of a great dynasty and of a game, like the country, on the cusp of enormous change."
--Newsweek
"Halberstam's latest gives us the feeling of actually being there--in another time, in the locker rooms and in the minds of baseball legends. His time and effort researching the book result in a fluency with his topic and a fluidity of writing that make the reading almost effortless....Absorbing."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"Wonderful...Memorable...Halberstam describes the final game of the 1964 series accurately and so dramatically, I almost thought I had forgotten the ending."
--The Washington Post Book World
"Superb reporting...Incisive analysis...You know from the start that Halberstam is going to focus on a large human canvas...One of the many joys of this book is the humanity with which Halberstam explores the characters as well as the talents of the players, coaches and managers. These are not demigods of summer but flawed, believable human beings who on occasion can rise to peaks of heroism."
--Chicago Sun-Times
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A True Baseball Classic Measuring the Passing of one Era to another
Comment: One of the saddest aspects of David Halberstam's passing in 2007 is that we will no longer have the joy and privilege of reading his wonderful works on sports, especially baseball. October 1964 ranks only behind his work on the 1949 baseball season as a seminal work on the art and passion of baseball. In each case he chose the New York Yankees and a team with die hard loyal fans (Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals) and portrayed not only how the respective pennant races went that season but what these teams meant to their respective communities and what the sport contributed to American culture.
Halberstam has always used baseball as trailblazer in the delicate art of racial integration and does so very effectively here. The differences between the progressive views of the Cardinals and the "old style" racial views of the Yankees serves as an outstanding microcosm of why the National League surpassed the American League and dominated them through the 1960's, 1970's and 1980s.
All in all this is an amazing work of one of the most critical times in American history and how sports very quietly lead the way to a more successful integration of overall American society.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Seminal Season and October
Comment: Halberstam delivers another masterpiece book on baseball, a follow up to his other must read "Summer of '49". Ostensibly, this story is about a classic 1964 World Series between the Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals. However, Halberstam scope if far broader than just a classic NL pennant race and a memorable 7 game World Series. For this WS was a watershed moment in baseball history. While not on the level as Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier 17 years earlier, it stands just a few rungs below in importance.
This WS was the last for the famed Yankee franchise before the advent of another seminal period in baseball, free agency. The Yankees had dominated baseball from the time they acquired Babe Ruth until 1964. Featuring some of the most memorable names in baseball history -- Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, Mantle and others - the Yankees were the team that most players wanted to play for, in spite of their penny pinching ownership and management. However, the decline of the Yankees that seemingly accelerated with the end of this WS really began when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.
Yankee management remained steadfast in its opposition to integrating their lineup -- fearing they would alienate their "middle class white customers". The Dodger's signing of Robinson was a catalyst for other teams in the National League to increase the pace of signing African-American players -- not out of altruistic reasons, but to stay competitive. These African-American players represented the best talent and if NL teams didn't follow the Dodger's path, they risked falling farther behind competitively. However, the situation in the American League was far different. The two heavyweight franchises, the Yankees and the Red Sox, remained two of the last two teams to sign black players. During this time, it is no surprise that the balance of power shifted from the AL to the NL which became a who's who of Hall of Famers --- Aaron, Mays, Clemente, Banks, Gibson, Brock, Morgan and others. In fact, The Yankees could have extended their dynasty if not for the prejudice of management, passing on Hall of Fame talent Ernie Banks and Willie Mays.
During the 1964 season, it was evident that the great Yankees of this era were fading - Ford, Mantle and Maris - and the farm system just didn't have the talent to replenish. Meanwhile, the Cardinals traded for Lou Brock the previous year, had a top flight first baseman in Bill White, a phenomenal center fielder in Curt Flood and an ascendant pitcher in Bob Gibson. The Cardinals started off 1964 slowly but benefited from the collapse of the Phillies and an amazing second half of pitching by Gibson, Sadecki and others - winning the NL pennant on the last day of the season.
In the 64 WS, we saw glimpses of the Yankee legacy, strong pitching and power, however, it was also marred by erratic defense and the physical breakdown of players like Ford and Mantle. In no small part, the Cardinals put pressure on the Yankees with their aggressive brand of baseball, led by the speed of Brock and Flood. The series went to seven games and Cardinal manager Johnny Keane started Bob Gibson on two days rest --- an almost unthinkable occurrence a few short years ago, a black pitcher starting the most important game of America's pastime. Gibson battled through the fatigue without his best stuff, ultimately going the distance to defeat the Yankees. After the game, when reporters asked Keane why he left in Gibson in the ninth when it was apparent how fatigued he was (giving up two solo HRs), he gave what may have been the ultimate compliment that a manager could have paid any player - "I had a commitment to his heart".
This book is a must read for any serious baseball fan. As a Yankee fan, I read much of this with dismay at the arrogance and ignorance of Yankee management at that time. I also read it with admiration and awe at players like Bob Gibson and Lou Brock - what they still had to endure during a very racially divided America - and performing at the top of their profession in spite of all the barriers thrown their way. Once again Halberstam delivers another classic.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Halberstam's best sports book
Comment: Because it's not all about sports. The baseball is almost incidental other than creating a far more interesting context for the social history and commentary. And that's a good thing because Halberstam pretty much fails in each of his books to really create the "magic" of the sports subjects he chronicles. If I compare Halberstam to another high intellect sports fan of note, George Will, I perceive that Will does a better job of writing in an intellectual and informative manner while also conveying the beauty and passion of sport, maybe because he keeps most of his sports writing to columns. Maybe I just expect too much when I see Halberstam's name as the author of a book, but with all the baseball and other sports books out there, I don't recommend the Halberstam books.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The End of an Era and the Dawn of a New Age in Baseball
Comment: This is a very solid follow up to David Halberstram's previous baseball history "The Summer of '49." Unlike that bestselling book which reviewed the most exciting of the pennant race between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox during the Forties, "October, 1964" chronicles the changing of the guard. 1964 was the final season of the postwar New York dynasty. As Halberstram indicates, the season was a watershed year for baseball. Old alignments faded away and new constellations began to sparkle and shine.
The corporate Yankees were the winners of a remarkable fifteen American League pennants and and eleven World Series titles between 1947 and 1964. New York teams were largely composed of white ballplayers. New York featured numerous sluggers, such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Under manager Yogi Berra, who was under fire for most of his first season as the skipper, the Yankees managed to edge the Chicago White Sox by a single game to capture the pennant in 1964. Their World Series opponent was the St. Louis Cardinals.
St. Louis may have been the first fully integrated team in that it featured numerous minority players, including Curt Flood, Bob Gibson, Bill White, Julian Javier and Mike Cuellar, among others. The season for St. Louis shifted dramatically when the team traded for Lou Brock. After being mismanaged and underutilized by the Chicago Cubs, Brock had a breakout second half with the Cardinals. Manager Johnny Keane was rumored to be in jeopardy of dismissal for most of the season (Leo Durocher was supposed to have been his likely successor), but Brock's acquisition spurred a winning streak and the team rallied and took the pennant.
The Cardinals beat the Yankees in seven games and Berra was fired as manager. New York hired Keane as his replacement. The Yankees entered into a prolonged slump as their aging stars retired. The replacements were nowhere near as good as their predecessors. The Cardinals, however, continued to prosper under their new manager, Red Schoendist. St. Louis emphasized speed on the basepaths and power pitching in addition to timely hitting. The Cardinals began adding outstanding Latin American players to their playing roster. In effect, the St. Louis team pointed to the wave of the future in major league baseball.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An absolute must-read for any baseball person!
Comment: Halberstam brilliantly sets the state for the 1964 World Series. He describes in detail each key players history and how they came to be a part of each team respectively. At the same time, he portrays how attitudes towards race in baseball, and in America in general, were changing and how it was changing the game. Absolutely wonderful.
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